


A Need For Change

by emty278



Category: Naruto
Genre: BAMF Haruno Sakura, F/F, F/M, M/M, Training Montage, and no bashing but maybe slight bashing, emo!Sasuke, featuring our favorite always guilt ridden hatake, happy/sad!Naruto, idk what I’m doing with these tags, oof forgot no beta, um we need strong women
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2019-06-05
Packaged: 2019-06-19 07:45:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15505671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emty278/pseuds/emty278
Summary: She wanted to get stronger.He wanted to survive.He wanted to move on.Konoha trembled.





	1. I - pathetic

**Author's Note:**

> Sooooo this is my first fic. Um idk much about the writing process so I’ll figure it out as I go along. Wish me luck and read and review please!
> 
> Also this is just inspired by so many sakura fics like sakura, of harrowed hearts, like there are so many that i've read, so I was like why not create one more?
> 
> Ah shoot forgot a disclaimer whoops! So yeah I don’t really own this universe of Naruto but like this plot is mine.

Sakura stood still on wooden planks that made up the bridge. 

She was guarding Tazuna, standing shakily but in place in front of the old men with a kunai held up. 

Sasuke was unconscious or even dead. 

Sakura watched helplessly as his battle with hunter nin increasingly lead to sasuke being killed with senbon. Even Naruto was able to attack the nin while Sakura only threw one measly kunai that was easily blocked by the hunter nin. She watched the battles with a tired eye as she could only watch because if she interfered it would only lead to her death. So, she stood there helplessly; guarding Tazuna even though surely if one of the enemy nins attacked they both both would die. She stood there trembling in fear for what would come next. 

Then the battle turned, when Naruto convinced the large missing nin to demolish the rouge bandits hired by Gato. Two of the bandits sneaked out from under the bridge, while the flashy confrontation was going on. Tazuna and Sakura were out of the way of the battle almost a mile away. The two bandits crept from underneath. Sakura had almost no proper shinobi training. While in the academy she almost obsessively focused on the academics while completely dismissing the physical training aspect as Sasuke-kun would always save her, right? 

But, Sasuke was dead at least she assumed. So she would have to save herself. The girl standing five foot even at 13 years old, weighing around 89 pounds, and unhealthily skinny due to her diet stood against the two bandits. 

The shorter one had a glint in his eye, laughing madly as he crept upon his two victims. It was a wonder that he was able to sneak up at all. The other’s face was covered by a mask, unlike Kakashi, his covered up his entire face but kept the mouth open only to show the blood on his teeth. 

Both bandits paused in their conversations to look at Sakura not even noticing the girl until she came into visibility because that’s how weak she actually was. 

“Hey, little girl. What’s a pretty thing like you doing here guarding that old man?”, the shorter one said opening his mouth up the smile filled with sharpened teeth. 

She trembled, afraid for her life. But she replied with false confidence, “I’m one of the ninja this old man hired, idiot. Here to guard him with my life.”

The shorter man’s smile almost stretching in anticipation of demolishing the young girl stretched even higher. 

“Be sorry that you spoke girl. Since I now know you’re a ninja, I’ll make this quick,” the shorter man’s eyes narrowed. 

Sakura body tensed in anticipation for the fight, but it never came.

Kakashi-sensei stood in front of her, his green flack jacket right in front of her face, blocking her view of the bandits. She heard groans and moans of pain from the bandits before she saw them. Sensei defeated the bandit in the blink of an eye leaving them bruised and bloody on the wooden planks of the bridge. She stood still tensed for a second before processing what happened. She looked over the rest of the scene with tired eyes that she had since the moment her kunai was easily dismissed by the hunter nin. She didn’t register Naruto’s flailing or sasuke’s reawakening with any sort of emotion. Sakura felt numb. 

“Are you alright Sakura? I know those bandits almost -“

She interrupted, “Yeah Kakashi-sensei, I’m fine”

However she didn’t say this in her usual bubbly tone, but Kakashi didn’t consider it to be anything of importance and dismissed her odd tone. The same he heard once from Rin before she started to become a terrifying kunoichi. 

Sakura was mulling over the battles that happened during the mission and realized that while she never fought, she never got critiqued once, not even now for not fighting the bandits or as she quickly realized shrieking at Naruto when Kakashi-sensei had sensitive hearing. She realized that everyone though she pathe-

“Hey Sakura-chan! Did you see how I fought! Did you see it! Hey Sakura-chan, did you?”

“Yeah Naruto, I did. You we’re pretty great” 

Sakura quirked up her lips as she said this while Naruto was a bit shocked but took it casually. She was thankful because while Naruto could be somewhat of an idiot, he picked up on nonverbal cues almost frighteningly well. 

“Huh” Sakura thought, “Naruto really isn’t that bad”

With that final thought, Sakura walked back with her team to Tazuna’s house to rest before going to guard the bridge again tomorrow


	2. II - Pathetic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm not going to be studying or sleeping today, lets go! Here's another chapter, inspired to update since there's like people who actually read this, and idk when my next update will be. also disclaimer like naruto ain't mine but this story is

Sakura was walking back to Konoha with her team since they had completed their mission parameters and thought back to that morning when Kakashi-sensei informed the three of them that they had to stay at the bridge guarding Tazuna for another week until the bridge was finished. 

"Against what?"

Everyone in the room looked at Sakura in mild confusion at her tone. Then, they assumed she was just confused at with what was happening and with her emotional state, they figured that she didn't understand what was going on.

"Sakura-chan, we need to protect the old man until he finishes the bridge because that's what he paid us to do." Kakashi-sensei had this one-eyed smile up on his face looking at her condescendingly.

"But that's not what I asked sensei, that didn't answer my question. Do we need to loot Gatou's hideout? Are we going to exterminate the village of the thugs that are left from the massive attack on the bridge? All of those things are out of our mission parameters. We were only paid to drop Tazuna off here and go back. While I understand that we needed to stay to protect him from Zabuza and Haku, since we need to keep up our facade of the nicest village, we could've left right after that. 

Sakura stood there in front of their shocked faces with an almost innocent confusion displayed on her face. It hilariously contradicted the guys’s frantically changing perceptions of her.

While the guys kept staring with their jaws dropped, they sort of hesitantly waited for her to laugh it off or do something that would return to the original Sakura. However, she wasn’t about to back down against the weight of their stares. 

“Maa, Sakura why do you have to be so aggressive?” Which might have been the worst thing for Kakashi-sensei to have said in this kind of situation. Both Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other with a what-the-fuck-is-up-with-this-guy? kind of face.

Sakura held her hands tightly by her side to try and stop the trembling because of her anger. She was looking down at the floor with her hair shadowing her face. She was standing in front of Kakashi-sensei, and he thought that she was about to cry. As he was about to reach his hand down to pat her head, she looked up. Her eyes were a viridian green, the green flashing in anger as she looked up to stare at her sensei straight in the eye. 

“Because you aren’t listening to what I said.” Sakura said quietly in that type of anger that was cold and sent a shiver down everyone’s spines.

She stood silently in front of her team while Kakashi-sensei tried to figure out a response to say back.

“I’ll send out a missive back to Hokage-sama, and we can see what he has to say”

They all returned to their posts watching the bridge as the men were putting in the support beams into the bridge. As Sakura looked closer, she realized that Naruto and Sasuke had been tasked with helping the men and they were getting stronger with the extra training while Kakashi-sensei had only ever assigned her the guard duty of Tazuna, who didn’t even need protecting anymore. It cemented her position as the weakest and most useless member of the team. Sakura looked over the bridge with tired yet awakened eyes. Her favorite Sasuke~kun was always getting the special treatment along with Naruto while Kakashi-sensei knew she was weaker than both of her teammates, but he never did anything to help her. Sakura watched over how Kakashi-sensei was giving tips to Sasuke and after that she realised those tips were for jutsu that Kakashi-sensei had never taught her.

Sakura turned away from the rest of them. She tried to stem her tears from the blatant favoritism that her sensei was showing that could lead to her being killed. As she turned away, she also turned away from Kakashi-sensei summoning his nin-dogs. He turned to Sakura to see if she watching him in order to regain her trust in him by seeing that he was doing something somewhat intelligent but seeing her turned away caused him to be a bit more resolved to pay more attention to his students. Both Naruto and Sasuke excitedly clamoured for his attention, and the thought of teaching Sakura disappeared from his mind as his more skilled students got closer to Pakkun. 

Walking down the side of the bridge where the beams were stable while also watching Tazuna, Sakura saw how Kakashi wasn’t even paying attention in her direction anymore, so she decided that in the time that she still had to be guarding Tazuna, she would train as well. 

“Tazuna-san, may I please help with building the bridge, since we were assigned to guard you till the bridge was completed, I can help make it a bit faster for you guys!” She said in a peppy, bubbly voice that everyone commonly associated with the pinkette. She looked at the old man with big green eyes till he gave up. 

“Fine, fine, you can work with the rest of the guys like your teammates, I know you’re a girl, but you’re a ninja too, so you can help us.” Tazuna said in a gruff voice as he was looking for a place to assign the girl to. “Go help Biro over there with the support beams, your fancy chakura trick or whatever will help with that, you’ll have to walk on the water and walk down the walls. You can do that right?”

“Yes of course!” Sakura agreed, and even if she didn’t she would figure it out in order to build the bridge. She would limit the chakra usage in her muscles, so she could build her muscles up without the use of chakra, and then the chakra would help in the recovery of her muscles.  
From that afternoon to evening, everyday she worked on the bridge while her sensei and her teammates were doing something else, that they wouldn’t even show her due to it being a guy thing, and since she was a girl, she couldn’t participate. 

Sakura mentioned it to Biro one afternoon after she learned to water walk, “The guys on my team have been so weird lately Biro-san. They always push me aside and tell me that I can’t do all the things that they can just because I’m a woman.” She fumed as she stuck a ton of metal into the water.

“That’s stupid.”

“Yeah! Wait what do you mean?”

“Well, from a civilian’s point of view, you all still protect us and you still have your hitaites same as all ninja, so you guys should all be equal? Does that make sense?”

“It does, thanks Biro-san”

“No problem kid, now tilt it like one degree to the right or it’ll set wrong”

And like this it continued till the day when Pakkun came back with the missive from the Hokage.

Kakashi-sensei called a team meeting in his room after one of the working days. Both Naruto and Sasuke were poring over separate scrolls while ignoring that she was there. As Kakashi-sensei opened the missive, he eyed her in order to gauge what her reaction would be if she was not right. His eye widened as he read through the missive. The Hokage had given Kakashi-sensei an official reprimand, but he didn’t say that to Sakura.

“So, Sakura-chan seems like you were right, we are ordered to head back to Konoha after looting Gato’s mansion. Hokage-sama commended your ideas in his letter.”

Sakura after waiting for a while to see if Kakashi-sensei was going to say anything else relevant because she already had assumed that the Hokage was going to order them back after this C-rank turned A-rank.

They started packing up, and leaving the house. On her way out, Tazuna handing her a knife from their family since she had been the one most dedicated to their mission throughout the entire time they had been here. While Inari was tearing up from watching Naruto go, Tazuna named the bridge, the Blossom bridge in order to reference Sakura and her contributions to building the bridge, but he knew that she didn’t want her name on it, since she was a ninja, and information was dangerous. They knew that they could only keep their stories with them, but not official documentation.

Sakura was at the back of the team formation as they left, but she wasn’t the one being left behind.


	3. III-Pathetic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hey so we're getting back to konoha or not lol.

They had been traveling for days, and Kakashi-sensei had finally taught them how to tree hops with chakra before that started going back in order to travel at a faster pace. However, when the pace was set it was extremely slow. It was to the point that even Naruto and Sasuke had finished learning how to properly tree hop using chakra and it was nightfall. Everyone was starting to get annoyed with their sensei due to the slow pace that he was putting out. 

“Hey Kakashi-sensei?” Naruto asked with his face all scrunched up.

“Yes Naruto” Kakashi-sensei drawled out.

“Why are we going so slowly?”

“Hn” Sasuke looked towards Kakashi-sensei in order to hear the answer to this question because even Sasuke, the dead emo child, was getting impatient, and of course he needed the fast pace for training to kill his brother.

After hearing this, Kakashi-sensei made a quick glance towards Sakura. She didn’t think anything of it until the next sentence came out of his mouth.

“Because we needed to set the pace for Sakura-chan” Kakashi-sensei said somewhat happily oblivious of the fact that he had completely dismissed one of his student’s strength, “and you guys, I didn’t want to leave you guys behind because you were tired.” Kakashi-sensei tried to cover his direct slight towards Sakura with some bull about how he didn’t want to leave all of them behind, but this time it was Sasuke that spoke up. He looked to Kakashi-sensei not really caring, but confused due to the fact that the man who was teaching them was actually being that stupid.

“Sakura isn’t that slow.”

Naruto followed up with some support even though his crush was dying down. “Yeah! Sakura-chan’s been training and getting special tips from the bridge builders when you were helping us with those things sensei! I was so jealous!”

Kakashi-sensei’s eyes widened as though the prospect of Sakura ever training herself had never popped into his head. He very carefully didn’t turn his face towards Sakura even though he wanted to talk to his student about what kind of training she could have possibly been doing without his expertise.

“Nevermind that we just want to make sure no one is tired right in order if we want to defend ourselves from thugs and the sort.” Kakashi-sensei said this as a response and now angled himself towards Sakura, in order to portray himself as a caring and responsible sensei, but he really wasn’t doing himself any favors.

Sakura looked up to her sensei, the first time this happened during this talk. Her face was as cold as ice. She had a poker face better than Kakashi-sensei’s. She replied in one of the calmest tones that any of them had heard. Except Kakashi-sensei, as he wasn’t somehow remembering, but this was the exact tone of voice that Kushina used when someone underestimated her. He should’ve known, but then again he was one of those that got slapped because he underestimated her, and everytime she proved him wrong. “Sensei, if you think that I need to be more protected than Naruto and Sasuke then you are dead wrong. Remember I was handling those bandits myself till you came and helped. I can run faster than both naruto and sasuke because of my chakra manipulation. Sensei, you’ve really just messed up.”

She wasn’t really mad at Kakashi-sensei, he didn’t know how to not treat people equally. He didn’t even really know what he did wrong. Sakura was just surprised that Naruto and Sasuke were actually standing up for her. She didn’t think that they would really due to how Kakashi-sensei was favoring them over her.

She turned around away from her team, but didn’t go to her treebranch away from the three of them without one last word.

“Thanks Naruto, Sasuke”

She jumped up to her tree branch. Sakura climbed into her bed roll as she thought about her day. She realized that she shouldn’t have had to really make excuses for this grown ass man. He was supposed to be their sensei. Once she got back to Konoha, Sakura resolved to make a training plan because this ass backwards nincompoop would not train her properly. After looking into somethings at the library, she would go to talk to Iruka-sensei, maybe with Naruto? 

Going to sleep with a smile on her face that night, Sakura knew she had a plan of action for the coming week and she was going to get stronger.


	4. IV-Pathetic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a little bit of bashing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so finals are done, so here is this chapter. yeah so I don't own naruto.

They woke up the next morning before the sun rose. Sakura was on last watch, so she just stretched up and looked at the surrounding woods before she got up to pack up her things. Since, it was so early they forewent breakfast because they were so close to the village walls. It was silent while they were traveling except for the scratches made on the bark by Naruto and Sasuke. Kakashi-sensei never made a sound while he moved. Sakura was almost certain that he used chakra or had an insane level of balance. He wasn’t a great teacher. As she was looking at the group from behind, Sakura was thinking of the plan she made last night. 

Sakura knew that she wasn’t strong. Far from it, she had the worst stamina, but she wasn’t helpless. There was a difference between being sheltered because you were helpless and not being able to do something because she was weak. She was weak and she couldn’t do anything. But, the thing that Kakashi-sensei hadn’t seen was that she could become better. A mistake some would say, but she knew that now she wouldn’t find help from him. She would be on a better path.

As they finally passed the thick forest into the pathway that showed the gigantic gates welcoming them into Konoha, a sort of tension released. They all were tired from all the things that had happened during the mission, and all of them needed some time from each other to understand what was their team and what they all wanted from it. While waiting at the gate, Kakashi-sensei was signing off the papers necessary for their re-entry. Sakura called out to Naruto and Sasuke, both of which who were almost gazing off to the side in boredom. Sasuke ignored the call at first, but then he was curious. Sakura hadn’t been what she was like in the academy. He walked closer. Naruto skipped over almost instantly just grateful for a relief of his boredom. They both had realized the changes to Sakura’s personality. But, they just never knew her in the first place.

“Do you guys want to meet to train like maybe two days from now? Because I’m pretty sure that we’re going to get a couple of days off.”

That surety in her stance is not what was there before was what Sasuke realized. He didn’t understand the significance of this, and he didn’t care all that much either. As he looked at Sakura, her hands were on her hips. Her chin tilted upwards with her shoulders back. Her eyes didn’t back down like they did before. He didn’t care. But, his mouth betrayed him.

“Hn”

Naruto didn’t notice anything new. He never thought Sakura of anything lower that she was as such was the nature of crushes. But, he felt something shift. Naruto had never thought of himself of being stronger than anybody and he still had his rivalry with Sasuke. So, on some level he knew that he could fight. If he had to survive on the streets, he could. That shift was important. 

“Teme! Respond to Sakura-chan properly! But, yeah Sakura-chan that would be totally cool!”

Sakura realized that she could be strong too. Even if he didn’t realize it.

Sakura was just glad that they both agreed and was already with coming plans for training, dismissing one after the other. Both the boys looked at her wide grin at their response and felt something. They hadn’t had anyone in a while. But, someone grinning at them in earnest was well it was a feeling. Something they really hadn’t had in a while.

After Kakashi was done signing the forms, he called everyone to debrief at the Hokage’s office. The roofs of the houses passed beneath their feet. The day was beautiful with the sun shining over all of Konoha. The civilians were walking and talking in the market passing beside them. All in all it was peaceful. 

In contrast, they all looked tired and dirty. Sakura while being more sure of herself than she ever had been, her dress was gone, she was only wearing a tank top, and some green leggings she could scrounge up. Naruto’s jumpsuit had holes in it from Haku’s many senbon, and while he didn’t have any scars some of his bandages had bloodstains on them. Sasuke looked like his normal self except for his shirt. Sometime during the mission he had stopped wearing his clan symbol, since after the bandits had come after them after gato died, they targeted him because of the symbol. Out of all of them, Kakashi-sensei looked the worst. Not because of his outfit, but because his stance in everyone’s minds had fallen. He looked the most presentable out of all them maybe with some dirt here and there, but in his face, he looked lost. Kakashi didn’t know what exactly he did or how to fix it, so he looked confused. They made a picture as they walked into the office. Iruka-sensei gaped at the four of them, but in his mind he felt somewhat satisfied. He had advised Kakashi not to take the mission, but since they didn’t follow it, this had happened in its steed.

The Hokage sat behind his desk smoking his pipe as he watched them walk in. 

“Well, Kakashi, do you have something for me?”

“Yes Hokage-sama. Here is the mission report as well as the objects of interest from Gato’s mansion.”

“Okay, Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, here is your check for the mission. Your pay has been bumped up in order to somewhat repay you for fulfilling the mission because of the rank jump.”

“Woaaaah, thanks old man!”

“Thank you very much Hokage-sama”

Sasuke just nodded goodbye on his way out. The other two genin walked out after Sasuke leaving their sensei behind to face the Hokage alone.  
The Hokage smiled at Kakashi. It was a kind one. The one you might see on your grandfather or any other senior citizen. But on Sarutobi Hiruzen it was downright disconcerting.

“Kakashi-kun. What happened?” Hiruzen phrased this almost like a question, but it was an order. If Kakashi didn’t give the right answer he might be in more trouble than he initially thought.

“I had to make the executive decision on whether to leave a poor feeble old man to die or go back to Konoha after dropping him off at the bridge.”

“Cut the bullshit Kakashi, you know you could have called for backup with your dogs anytime before the end of the mission. Why didn’t you?”

“Because I thought that they could handle it. I mean I could.”

Iruka interjected into the conversation, “They are green genin and the standards for the academy have fallen because we want the jounin-senseis to teach their students because we have too many academy students.”

“Kakashi, did you even test their capacities properly before training them?”

“Define testing and training. I gave them the bell test, and I taught them to tree walk. I assumed that they would go to the library to seek out further materials and ask me for reference.”

“Did you ever tell them of your expectations?”

“How do you expect green genin to do these things if they’ve never had to do it before.”

“I mean I thought Sakura would do it, but so far she’s been useless in our team trainings. So, I haven’t given her much of substance.”

Both the Hokage and Iruka fumed. The stupid jounin in front of them didn’t even know what he was doing to the future generation. He was saying this too without any worry even with the dangerous auras of both Hiruzen and Iruka in the room. 

“Kakashi, I must give you an official reprimand.”

“What! Why?”

“Because you have been purposely sabotaging your future genin in the pursuit of favoring people from your past. Kakashi it is only because of your contributions to this village that I do not declare this treason, but if you don’t train your genin equally or pass on one of your students to another teacher, then I will have no choice. You have been seriously abusing your powers as an elite jounin, power only given to a few. If you don’t follow through with my orders, then you will have to face the consequences.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so we might have some government cleaning to do. maybe a training montage. Idk who should train sakura, i mean anko is pretty cool but liiike hayate would give sakura a sword. Meh, you guys'll find out sooner or later. Also, it kinda pains me to write Kakashi like this just because he like seems like a really good guy, but he is just stupid and arrogant sometimes, so yeah.


	5. I - Stronger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, a bit longer. airplanes are quite long, and i was feeling bored, so i wrote. i don't own naruto. hope you enjoy!

Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke walked down the stairs together after the debriefing. All of them could sense the atmosphere that they had left Kakashi-sensei in, but none of them were in the mood to go deal with it as they had just been on an A-ranked mission for a month. After the got to the bottom of the steps, a runner gave them a missive before the exited. Since neither of the two boys wanted to take the paper, Sakura took it and thanked the boy as he left. She opened the letter, and as she read the first few lines her eyes light up with joy and she greedily read the rest of the letter. The two boys had their interest peaked after seeing their female teammate so excited just because of a piece of paper. 

“Naruto and Sasuke, guess who has the month off because of an awfully dangerous mission that they had and should now train for!”

Sasuke rolled his eyes while Naruto jumped excitedly asking “Who? Sakura-chan, who?”

“It’s us dobe” Sasuke replied somehow rolling his eyes even harder. 

“So, when do you guys want to meet up to train then? We’ve got a lot of time.” Sakura asked as they were walking out. 

It was such a nice day. They all were eager to go back to their homes and maybe take a couple hours to relax and refresh themselves from the mission before going back to the shinobi life.

“Hnnnn” Sasuke grunted.

“Speak up teme! We can’t understand troll.” Naruto yelled in Sasuke’s face. Both of them looked like there was lightning in between their eyes.

“Break it up, we don’t want a fight with fire in the middle of the market.” Sakura said trying to calm the two of them down. While, they both weren’t very close to Sakura, they did listen to her. Naruto didn’t want to make the villagers angrier, and Sasuke didn’t want to ruin the villagers’ perspectives of him.

“Hn”

“Fine”

Both of them had equally scrunched up faces looking at the opposite sides. It was hilarious to see. Sakura was trying not to break down laughing as she walked next to them. 

“Well, we can just meet up after team training right? It’s not like those are actual training.” Said Sakura.

Both boys didn’t look to her but nodded in agreement.

“Cool! Well then, I have to get home, alright? Bye!” said Sakura in her usual bubbly manner. It was fine if she told one lie to her team right? She was going to head to the library instead, but she didn’t want the boys who probably talked to Kakashi-sensei to blab about her going to the library. For some reason, she didn’t want Kakashi-sensei to be involved with making her better. He didn’t seem to even have the slightest interest, so why bother him? With that thought she headed off to the library after she left the boys to themselves.

\-----------------

The building was ginormous. It was maybe seven stories tall, and that was not counting the floors under the ground. It was one of the largest buildings within Konoha even if the Hokage tower was considered the tallest. There were maybe thousands if not millions of scrolls within the building.

When Sakura was younger she used to run inside the library wanting to be rescued by all the superheroes and beautiful kunoichi within the books that she had read. Hoping that the bullies would stop chasing her, they always did. She never really thought about the library after meeting Ino. After all, it was a place where she went when she was feeling her greatest insecurities. Those had been pushed to the back of her mind for the longest time, and after her crush on Sasuke had faded she had opened that box back up again. She was weak. That had always been her flaw. But as she knew now, she could fix that. That’s why she was here at the library, her place of comfort, and the place that held all the knowledge within Konoha. It was a magical place. As she stepped inside, the memories of all the stories she had read and the smell of old musty books came rushing to her. She walked to the librarian. 

“Hello, Kikyo-obasan!” said Sakura at the desk.

The librarian was an old lady. From the last time she had been here, Sakura didn’t think she had changed whatsoever. Kikyo Futoru was a permanent fixture of the library. No one knew when she had started but everyone knew not to get on her bad side. Kikyo was maybe one of the most revolutionary kunoichi in history. Sakura only knew this because of her favored history books, the ones Kikyo-obasan used to give to her when she was little. The only people that came to the same level as her in recent years were two woman portrayed in history by their nicknames, the red hot blooded habanero and lady susano, because their actual names were too classified to know. 

Kikyo-obasan adjusted her glasses, looking up from the papers she was going through. “Is that Sakura-chan? I haven’t seen you in ages. I see you finally got that hitaite. I knew you were going to be a great kunoichi!”

Sakura’s heart warmed. Her oba-san still kept her in her heart even though she hadn’t come back in year. “I’m not that great yet. I’m looking for some scrolls, maybe some for foundations of being a shinobi? I need to review the academy curriculum as well, perhaps wartime? Would that be possible?”

“Of course my dear. Just go over there to the sign. I should have labeled the sections so you won’t have a hard time finding what you need. Just don’t stray past level two.”

“Thank you!” 

Sakura left the desk to go to the bookshelves. While the sections were labeled nicely, the shelves were anything but neat. But, when she was younger, Kikyo-obasan had taught her a small jutsu to find the books she was looking for. Sakura made the hand signs standing in front of the basics sections. Ram – Rat – Horse “Scroll Finding Jutsu!” she whispered since it was a library and all. She thought out the general idea of the books that she wanted to find which were taijutsu and bukijutsu scrolls since they didn’t really require too much guidance from a teacher because they weren’t things that she needed supervision for, and the wartime academy curriculum since she knew it was better than the peacetime one. After the scrolls lit up, she walked to each of the scrolls perusing the shelves as she walked past. She noticed a couple interesting things, but the only extra scroll she picked up was an anatomy scrolls since she figured she should learn anatomy along with bukijutsu. Since, it was only the afternoon by the time she got her scrolls and she knew that she needed to go home to clean up, she decided to take the scrolls, since the seals at the entrance automatically checked the scrolls out the ninja carrying the scroll. 

Sakura took to the roofs as she went home. Carrying the scrolls made her feel more like a ninja then she had ever felt, so she was excited to read through the scrolls and start training.   
After she got home, Sakura took one of the longest showers in her life. Before stepping into the shower, however, Sakura almost had a panic attack, her mind flashing back to the fight between Kakashi-sensei and Zabuza. She had felt completely useless, and she starting shaking. Her knees trembled. But, she didn’t fall. Sakura had thought that she had dealt with the worst of it during those nights in the house in the wave. All alone, she suffered sobbing herself to sleep because they weren’t there. But, she didn’t fall. Sakura looked up, even with her entire body shaking, she took a shower. Stepping out of the shower was also difficult. But, she had to do it. It made everything that had happened, the pain, the confusion, everything, it made it real, she really didn’t want to acknowledge all this. It was neatly tied up in her little box up in her head. While she had partially dealt with her weakness, she hadn’t touched anything regarding her team. The slighting of memories from the wave causing her to shake. 

She pushed this aside. 

While it wasn’t healthy, she could deal with it later. Right now, her body needed to get stronger. Sakura had always been a hard head, but even when she didn’t pull her punches, she never gave any bruises. Look at Naruto, in the academy, she had hit him almost everyday, and it never left any sort of mark.   
Sakura resolutely sat down to start studying firmly opening up the scrolls at her desk with a notebook laid out in front of her. After maybe two hours of taking notes, Sakura only wrote down faster. Her mind was blown. Completely destroyed. Shattered. She was shocked. There was so many extra easy techniques that were covered in the wartime curriculum as well as an extra taijutsu style that suited her. She was shocked at the sheer difference between peacetime and wartime. While she may not be the strongest, she was glad that she was at least smart enough to check out the wartime curriculum. It had given her instruction on how to learn at least six jutsu maybe more, but her mother had called her down for dinner. So, she jotted a list down of all the potential jutsus and techniques she could learn since they were meant for academy students.

\- Katon Flicker Fire Jutsu  
\- Raiton Electric Pulse Jutsu  
\- Water Walking  
\- Chakra Strings  
\- Futon Scalpel no Jutsu  
\- Water pellet Jutsu  
\- Advanced Henge no jutsu  
\- Double Surroundings Genjutsu  
\- Swift Strike Style

It made up a substantial list, so she decided that she would practice the jutsus, taijutsu, bukijutsu, and read up on genjutsu theory before and after team training. She resolved to start training first thing tomorrow, probably ridiculously early just because of how nervous she was to start.

\---------------------

The next morning Sakura woke up at five. The sun hadn’t risen yet, so she was hiding under her covers. She knew the hardest part of training in the morning was getting up. So she jumped out of her bed making sure she wasn’t thinking and got ready within a span of five minutes to make sure she wouldn’t go back on her decision to get out of bed. After getting ready, Sakura grabbed some food from the kitchen, and left a small note saying, “Bye Kaa-san, Tou-san! I’m going out to train! I’ll see you guys for dinner!”.

Sakura headed out to training ground seven, and she started with some warmups she found in the scroll. Something called calisthenics? She didn’t know, but she followed the poses shown within the diagrams. Sakura made sure she didn’t push herself too hard because she knew it was only the first day, and injuries didn’t give you results. After half an hour of stretching her body, she decided that she would do laps around the village in order to increase her stamina, which, honestly, was pathetic. So, she decided that she would start trying to do one lap, and if she had anything left in her, she would run until the sun rose, or jog. 

So, Sakura started running at a sprint, and then almost immediately stopped because she realized that her muscles were really weak. Like, thirty seconds of sprinting left her gasping for air, and her fastest sprint was something like Naruto’s slowest jog. She decided she would start with a jog. It was very peaceful in the morning. The world was waking up with the insects crawling around in the ground and the birds chirping. Sakura felt calm and definitely at peace while panting and short of breath. She got to the Uchiha Compound which was maybe ¼ of the way, so she steeled herself for 3 times the distance and she went. By the time the sun had risen, Sakura was gasping for air. Her knees were shaking. She looking exhausted with her gray tank top soaked in sweat, and her pant covered in dirt. But, her eyes were gleaming. She had made it back to the training ground. It might’ve taken her an hour to cover 4 miles, but it was a start. She looked like she was glowing as she walked back to her towel set on one of the stumps. 

Sakura felt happy, one of her goals was achieved for the day, and she was ready to face the rest of them head on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think i've decided on what extra teacher sakura is gonna get cuz like she needs some help. also, i really like when team seven is like a family, so if they seem semi-ooc i'm sorry, i'm trying. Also, if y'all think I should reword somethings, comments would be pretty appreciated. :) So, yeah!


	6. II - stronger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thought i would post this earlier but big shock no internet was a thing for a couple days so yeah. happy new year! as well if you are looking forward to this year.

Since it was the morning after all, and the sun had just risen, Sakura realized there was a couple more hours before she had to meet her team for team training, so she went back to her house to clean up a little bit. Sakura was sweating, and even though she knew that she would have to deal with this kind of circumstance during mission she justified it to herself that since she was at home, she could at least use this luxury. (While that girly girl Sakura was still there, Sakura kept her locked inside her mind. She couldn’t afford that luxury anymore if she wanted to survive.)

She went into her room, stripped down to take a shower. The shower turned on, and she went in. Once again, she felt overwhelmed. Her hair was soaked and clinged to the back of her as she got out of the shower. 

It was dreadfully long. 

The shower had become a place of terrible memories, and her water-logged hair reminded her of this. It was constant. 

It was like a pinging in the back of her mind. 

As she moved around her room to get dressed and pack her weapons, her wet hair dripping down her back kept bringing up all the memories of feeling helpless, and getting her hair stuck, and all of these things. Her hair was gorgeous. 

She knew that. 

But, she couldn’t afford to be pretty yet. She couldn’t be those kunoichi that she dreamed of yet. After her morning run, she knew she was going to get there, but that place, that dream, it was here yet. Those were the thoughts going through Haruno Sakura’s mind as she held her gorgeous hair in front of her mirror in her bathroom. The very place where she had made up her mind to grow it, the place she groomed and kept it up everyday, was the place where she held a kunai up to the back of her neck. She hacked off her hair until it was around the length of her chim. The strands fell unevenly around her neck. But, it felt better than the pounds that she carried down her back every time she had been called weak by her tormentors, or drowned during the fight with Zabuza, in the mist. Her hair had been a burden, but now without it Sakura hoped she wouldn’t be one anymore.

With a resolute expression as she faced herself in the mirror, she wore a short sleeved shirt with the Haruno emblem on the back. It was a dark brown to blend into the woods, and her pants were many different shades of green combines. It was a wonderful find her mom had made in the market, it looked like the Hashirama tree leaves. The pants fells down to the middle of her shins, at the bottom wrapped to secure them to her legs. She was wearing dark red, almost a marron, shinobi sandals, just to keep that little, tiny part of her that still wanted to wear her quipao. Her hair stood still as she stared at herself. She finished wrapping her weapon pouches on her legsboth placed on her hips attached to her belt. Her hitaite was place on her neck because she couldn’t place it on her forehead, not yet. Her arms were bare, almost to shame herself for not having anything there in the first place, but then she looked at them again on second thought and couldn’t bare to look at them herself, so how could anybody else, so she wrapped up her forearms with some black bandages.

She turned away from the mirror, her hair shifting with her, and she took a seat at her desk, and studied the scrolls in front of her once more with a vengeance. She decided to read these for an hour because she had to practice the new jutsus and techniques she had found, so she kept checking the clock just so that she wouldn’t lose track of time, as she did the other night. Sakura wanted to take a break from the wartime curriculum, since she already had a wonderful list she could work with, so she opened up the anatomy scroll and started taking notes.

She started with the main body systems before tackling the chakra system as according to the scroll, it was later to the body, and so the body learned to work with the system afterwards. 

The circulatory sent water through the chakra system and blood through the body in order to make it flow through the entire body. 

The skeletal system allowed for concentrated points of chakra to form within the body. 

The nervous system sent electrical messages through the body and with the chakra system it was able to do this even faster, and ninja trained their usage of chakra, so their minds literally worked faster than civilians meaning that Naruto, NARUTO, thought faster than Sakura because he used chakra in spades. 

Wind chakra was residual within human body due to the respiratory system, and the constant oxygen circulated within the body.

The digestive system was the most interesting when working with the chakra system, Sakura found, as digestion could work slower for ninjas who were able to gain the skill to slower their metabolism after their chakra system and physical growth stabilized. 

“That type of thing could be very helpful when surviving with low rations,” Sakura mused as her eyes rapidly scanned the diagrams in front of her. All of the techniques in front of her regarding her body’s natural use of chakra with the body’s system needed a fine usage of chakra, which Sakura already had, but she needed to train it even more and build up her reserves if she wanted even one of these techniques to last more than twenty minutes. So, she finished up looking at the body diagrams, and searched for something within the wartime curriculum that could help her with chakra control. She realized the water walking jutsu and tree walking jutsu would aid her in building her reserves, but it said that she should head to the hospital if she was finer chakra control than what was needed for jutsus. 

Why does everything need to be about jutsus!, Sakura mentally yelled into her mind while she paced around in her room while she though about she would do. Then, she realized she needed to go to team training. She forgot to keep track of the clock and she had been looking through that scroll for hours. 

“Uuuuuugh, I wanted to go to the training grounds, and at least walk up and down a tree and couple of times, wow that sounds dreadfully boring even to me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey so i wanna try out a longer chapter so it might take me a bit longer or it might not but be forewarned it will be longer than 2k, i'm aiming for 5k but we'll see. sakura's like actually learning and we can see she's the biggest book nerd. so basically i'll start the gov clean up so don't be mad if there's a different pov that's not sakura because i really want danzo just like dead. also new teacher will be introed in the next chapter so get hype folks.


	7. stronger - III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry not sorry

Sakura arrived at team training with almost five minutes to spare, but Naruto and Sasuke looked like they had been there for hours since the both of them were drifting off against trees. She went to sit next to them as she cracked open a book to read until Kakashi showed up. She wondered what they would be doing today, since the really hadn’t had any type of training from Kakashi-sensei. 

Then, Kakashi-sensei just popped up out of nowhere, no smoke or anything. He was just there, one second he wasn’t, the next he was. The suddenness of his arrival woke up Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto flailed off of his position on the tree landing on his foot. His arms were flailing to try to keep his balance, but he ultimately failed as he fell face first into the ground. Sasuke froze real stiff for a moment till he cracked open an eye, but whatever he saw wasn’t the team in front of him. He jumped up into a taijutsu stance and threw three shuriken in Kakashi’s direction. 

“Kakashi-sensei! Why’d you have to go and do that?” asked Sakura, even though she was amused by both reaction of the boys.

“Wait! YOUR LAAAAATE KAKASHI-SENSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIII!” shouted Naruto with his ear blasting volume into Kakashi’s direction.

Sasuke just hnned, somewhat annoyed by Kakashi-sensei.

“Maa maa, everyone. We’ll be something exciting today! We’re going to be to doing the trap techniques taught by the academy, and some more advanced ones. We’ll be mainly reviewing survival skills, since you guys should know that stuff. Alright minna-san let’s gather in a circle!” said Kakashi-sensei. He had the annoying one-eyed smile up on his face as he watched his students scramble to sit in front of him, since he realize, he was actually teaching them something. 

“What do you mean by survival skills Kakashi-sensei? We just learned how to put up a tent really quick, and some basic traps. I learned all of those. They were REALLY fun to use for pranks!” said Naruto with a wide grin as he was recalling some of the pranks that he pulled after the lesson on traps.

“It was one of the worst weeks at the academy, sensei! We had to watch for all the traps in the hallways and at our desks too! It was terrible, but after Mizuki-sensei set Naruto straight we returned back to having the classroom back to normal.” Said Sakura recalling those weeks. Mizuki-sensei was harsh towards Naruto, but he had been terrorizing the academy for a solid week.

“Hn.” Said Sasuke. He wasn’t really paying attention to them. He was thinking back to the survival training that the academy held, and he didn’t really remember anything past the traps, and little camping trips that they took outside. He remembered that unit was one of the few time his Father had come to train him on how to survive. He didn’t know if his teammates knew those things. He realized that they probably didn’t.

“Sensei. We didn’t have survival training.” Said Sasuke after his realization. 

“What do you mean Sasuke, it should be in the curriculum?” said Kakashi a little worriedly in response. Had the academy gone to the ~~dogs~~ cats? 

“Yeah! Kakashi-sensei, we didn’t have anything. I looked into the textbook and we did have more to learn, so I told this to Mizuki-sensei. He started to zone out almost looking into a corner of the room, now that I think about it, it was the corner that Naruto sat in. He just said that we didn’t need, and how some of us would just learn to live. It was Mizuki-sensei, so I just figured he had a bad day. I left class since the day was over, and I asked my question to Iruka-sensei.” Said Sakura. She was a little confused by what happened. Mizuki-sensei was about to answer her question till he looked at Naruto. Naruto wasn’t that bad; he did prank the academy, but he still deserved to know those answers.

“What do you mean that he didn’t teach your class the survival portion of the curriculum.” Kakashi asked. Well, he didn’t really ask, he just stated as his students looked at him with a serious face. How could the academy sensei have been so careless? He could have led the entire class to die. Kakashi resolved to bring this up with the Hokage because this was ridiculous. Even he, the five-year-old graduate, while not being the strongest shinobi yet, or the best, he at least knew how to survive which brought him to how powerful he was now. He realized that he would have to step up his game with teaching his students if this was how badly the academy teachers had given their students the education they needed to survive. 

“He didn’t? I mean, Iruka-sensei went over a little, but it was okay Kakashi-sensei!” said Naruto trying to reassure his sensei. Kakashi had put a serious expression, but after seeing Naruto’s concern, he struggled to put on his careless façade.

“Okay everyone, alright. We’ll just have today to be a review day alright. We can just write down everything we learned in the academy, as well as, the techniques we know.. I’ll do it as well, so it’ll be a fun team activity!” said Kakashi with his eye-smile. He tossed out three scrolls to his students. 

They all hunkered down together, both boys sitting on either side of Sakura, occasionally looking over at her scroll, and constantly getting surprised by the sheer amount of what was being put on paper. Sakura had an eidetic memory. Meaning she remembered every single instance of her life after she was a baby. Which made handling trauma much more difficult, but a fractured mind, is still a mind. Anyways, she wrote down as much as she could remember. Almost filling out the scroll completely. She included a couple of the techniques from the wartime curriculum that she was going over. She hadn’t mastered them yet, but she had at least looked at them. After she was done writing, Sakura looked up to see if Naruto or Sasuke had finished beside her. They both were looking at her in shock. Kakashi, also, was looking at his pink-haired student with his eye open slightly wider than normal. During the time it took for Sakura to write down everything she learned, he used Obito’s eye to check if what he was seeing was a genjutsu. It wasn’t. Both Naruto and Sasuke were not as surprised at the fact that she remembered more than them. Sasuke, because she was the only student to beat his exam score, and Naruto, because of his days of having on the girl had realized how much she actually learned from the class, something he almost became envious of. But, they were surprised that she remembered every single thing from the academy. Everything. As well as a couple of extra techniques. Even Kakashi-sensei who had been a shinobi longer than they were born didn’t have as much on his paper.

“So! Minna-san! What do you have for me?” said Kakashi. He mainly focused his question on Sakura because she was the one who had the most on the academy, so that he could gage where they and their current generation were at in his report to the Hokage.

“Me! Me! Kakashi-sensei, I want to go first!” exclaimed Naruto. He was buzzing in his seat. He had something to give for once.  
“Of course, Naruto. Go ahead.”

“I know the shadow clone jutsu, henge no jutsu, kunai, shuriken, and substitution jutsu. I know the clone technique, but I’m really bad at the jutsu. Iruka-sensei said it was because I had too much catra or something. Ummm….., I’m really good at traps and thing. Oh! I’m really good at pranks, but I’m not sure if that is a ninja skill or not. I got dog-san real good this one time. His hair got dyed pink, I think his friends, cat-san and boar-san, found it really funny since they were shaking, but I couldn’t see their faces. I was definitely laughing. Anyways, I know at lot about the history of the Hokages as well as a lot about the plants and animals in and outside of Konoha. I know a lot about fixing things, but I think that’s really about it?” said Naruto trailing off hesitantly.

“Good Naruto. Pranking is a good skill especially at the level you are at. You are better at some jounin at making traps, but you need to round out your education. I see that your skills are a little weak at history, so I will make sure to bring you up to speed. I think we can get you started on a more suited taijutsu style; however, I noticed during the fight on the bridge that your fighting style, while effective is not a style. It does defeat opponents, but you need a proper stance in order to become better. Also, I should remind you, while friendly pranks are alright, you are adults, and you will be treated to the full extent of the law and tried as adults if you cause any property damage. Is that understood, not just Naruto, but you three as well.”

“Yes Kakashi-sensei” said both Naruto and Sakura in unison

“Hn”

“Okay, Naruto. That was a good skillset, but we’ll work on it. Now, Sasuke.”

“Hn. Great Fireball Jutsu, clone jutsu, henge jutsu, bukijutsu, substitution jutsu, false double surroundings genjutsu, and average trap making skills. Academy taijutsu and Hitora Taijutsu. I learned all that was needed from the academy.”

“Can you explain what you learned from the academy Sasuke.”

“Hn” Sasuke paused as he was trying to recall the memories from back in the academy. He realized he didn’t remember the materials from before Itachi that monster had killed the clan. 

“All years after second year”

“How come you do not remember the first two?” Sakura asked this in a soft voice, somehow sensing that this was somewhat important.

“I remember little from back then.” Said Sasuke. He starting closing up, his eyes hardening as he was trying to recall memories from before the massacre. He couldn’t. It terrified. He couldn’t remember what it was like to be a child. He shook his head a little bit before getting his head on straight. He was at training. He couldn’t show weakness here. Especially not in front of these people he didn’t even know. (But, you died for Naruto. Sakura, weak little Sakura, charged into battle for you. Kakashi cared. But, was that enough. It was something) He looked forward, trying to act like nothing had happened.

No one was thought he was doing well faking his thoughts, but they let him go because they figured he would come to them when he wanted to. (he did)

“Well that was interesting. We’ll look into that later. Now, Sakura, let’s dig into what you’ve written down!”

“Okay Sensei! I started from year 1. Basically, all we did in that year was learning how to write and read as well as listening to lectures and learning and playing games outside. Now that I think about it, it got us to think more like ninjas too. There were a couple of kids that dropped out, but not really a lot? Anyways, we got the year 2, and everything was bumped up. We like learned the theory for everything. I think this was really the year which determined who was a shinobi or not you know because that was the year where we learned about psychology and how to not get lost in your brain … “

Sakura trailed on to explain the what all else they did in year 2, but the bit about psychology stirred something in Sasuke’s brain. _~~His Brother~~_ That Man had slaughtered that clan right after that unit if he could remember correctly. He knew his memory was spotty in some place, but he could specifically remember his brother somewhat panicking that day after he came back from school when he was excitedly explaining to his parents that now no one could trick him anymore! No one would ever be able to get inside his head.

“…ed. We continued on with these topics in year 3, but didn’t really revie-“

“Sensei. He did something to my head.”

“What? Sasuke are you alright?”

Sasuke was shaking. His eyes were blown wide open as he looked like he was searching for something. He was clutching his hands to his head, with his resting above his knees. He looked terrified. 

“That man. Kakashi-sensei.”

And he broke down. And almost took Kakashi with him. Kakashi had never heard Sasuke call him Kakashi-sensei before, and with that boy in such a state, to have trusted him. He put that aside.

“Naruto! Sakura! Go home, these are orders. I will make sure that Sasuke gets what he needs. Don’t tell anyone about this okay?” 

“Yeah, Yeah. We got it Kakashi-sensei.” Even Naruto with his normally happy go lucky smile, didn’t have that glint in his eye that he normally carried. 

“Of course” Sakura slouched and looked down at the boy she once loved. She thought she would look at him and see the beautiful boy she saw everyday of the academy. Now, she saw him as himself. A boy who needed help. She stood straight at attention and nodded to her sensei.

“Good. However, I need you guys to listen to me, seriously. I know I haven’t been the best sensei, but I am going to make the effort starting today.”

They both looked at their sensei seriously before they left. He had his back facing towards them. His entire being shrouding Sasuke. Trying to protect from something. Something that was bad.

* * *

Sakura headed home. She tried not to think about what just happened. About what her sensei had tried to do. About what Sasuke had happened to him. About how she was actually getting taught.

And she couldn’t. 

She just couldn’t. 

She couldn’t head home. 

To her civilian parents who would ask her about her day, and she would have to respond with the usual, it was fine. 

IT Was Not FinE. 

Sakura dramatically veered off of her path home. Her pink locks fluttering behind her, she ran across the rooftops till she reached the training grounds opposite to the ones her team was training in. 

(what better way to escape something, so that no one could **e v e r f I n d y o u** )

* * *

She touch down on the branches of the tree and kept on running until she reached the farthest training ground from the village. The only way she knew about this one was because of the war time curriculum. She realized during her reading that it probably wasn’t used by anyone anymore and probably forgotten for the same reason. Once she touched down, she tucked herself one of the trees. It was very still for a moment, the tree seemed like they stopped rustling. Then, Sakura let one tear drop, then another, until she was sobbing and trying to breathe but she couldn’t.

She leaned her head against the back of the tree, her eyes still filled with tears as she tried to look at her surroundings. It was mid-afternoon, around 3pm when Sakura left. Now, after such a long time of not dealing with the world it was maybe an hour later. She shook her head and stood up. She walked to the middle of the training ground. And,

She punched the ground. She started rapidly punching the ground barely making a dent, but then she started digging and punching trying to get dirt under her nails trying to make herself dirty because she deserved it. If she couldn’t even deal with this much, what was she to do later. And so, she kept at it until a certain someone was popped by.

* * *

A little pink haired girl was punching, crying, digging, and manipulating her chakra and the dirt was pulverized between her fists. As he could see from the trees, this pink haired girl was unconsciously demonstrated chakra manipulation such fine chakra manipulation she could have been a medic, but she was too tiny.

He could see potential.

He dropped down from the trees.

Sakura leapt up from the ground and out of the hole she was in, while wiping furiously at her eyes as she faced the man in front of her.

“Who are you? How did you find this place?” she said cautiously almost waiting for the man to strike out against her. He had strange marking on his face as well as a face guard. The man’s hair was almost the same as Kakashi’s in color, but maybe more white? He had the aura of a man who knew who he was, and that made sakura even more wary, since a shinobi who was stable was the most dangerous kind.

“If you want to ask for my name you should give yours in its place, and for how I know about this place. Well, any veteran knows.” He said ominously.

“My name is Sakura Haruno, shinobi-san.”

“And, my name is Tobirama Sarutobi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so i'm a little sorry. um so i think this'll mainly be a sakura story, but i want to characterize naruto and sasuke my way because literally there's so much to the naruto world. also, about the teacher thing. so this little idea popped into my head while writing. what if tobirama found a way to not die because literally he found a way to make the undead not dead, so he should have survived. anyways he's her teacher and that's that. but i might put a little something with anko because i really like her. also imma have a chapter real soon cuz i got the chunin exams all planned out so i'm very hype.


	8. end of the beginning

"Would you like to learn from me, Sakura"

 

"Why Sarutobi-san?"

 

"Because I am curious." This girl had potential, some of which he had never seen before in a shinobi much less a pink haired girl.

 

Sakura thought that this was a little suspicious. That a man couldn't possibly be here at the same time while she was bawling her eyes out hoping to be stronger, and some whim offer himself to train her. He couldn't be here at the same time she was so frustrated to the point that she had punched the ground so much she had come close to breaking her bones. It couldn't be a coincidence. She could see the thoughts running around his face, his hesitation at the decision to take on a kunoichi. But, she could take a chance. (that little part of sakura, the tiny part that still believed in the good of humanity shined) She had no idea where this would lead, and what would happen, but

 

 

 

 

 

"Okay Sarutobi-sensei. I will accept."

 

* * *

Naruto wandered back home. It was late afternoon. He really hoped he didn't need to worry because of what happened at the training ground. He had never seen Sasuke like that so scared and frightened that something was going to happen if they dissapeared. It almost haunted him, the picture of Sasuke's eyes wide open. The onyx eyes clouded with fear, as Sasuke looked up at their sensei. That was terrifying. 

 

His eyes scrunched closed to think back to a time where Sasuke wasn't his pompous self. He could remeber that there was this older kid who had this really pretty hair that would come around a lot to pick up Sasuke at first back when they were younger, but it was a little wierd as he thought back because that constant fixture just dissapeared one day along with that cheerful Sasuke. Sasuke became sadder after that. 

 

Naruto liked to think that he'd helped Sasuke after his parent's died, but he hadn't had the right state of mind. That day was one of the most terrifying and painful nights of his life. He knew why now, but he hadn't forgived the Uchiha until he had learned that they all died. He couldn't help Sasuke then because he hated him. Now, Naruto realized he needed to help himself. He knew what was inside of his body. It was dangerous. He hadn't met the beast in his belly kept prisoner, but he knew his current level wasn't going to cut it if he had to face the beast someday. Naruto had decided long ago that he needed to get stronger. But, now he needed to get stronger if he ever wanted to come close to understanding why the monster was placed in his belly, and the only information source to that would incinerate him if he ever came close to it. 

 

 

(the child within naruto wanted to look cool in front of his team)

 

 

But, Naruto wanted to get stronger, and he knew. He knew that the only way to become the strongest was to do it with a team.

(he was the greatest shinobi of his time, the yellow flash, but he died alone. the sannin faced bigger feats almost died many times, but they were a team, for all they are now, and alive)

 

 

* * *

 

 

The dirt had clumped up the dark hair on the patients head. The boy's skin was pale with the veins dangerously showing through his skin.

 

 

 

 

"Kakashi-sensei?"

 

 

 

"Hmm?" 

 

 

 

"I need to get stronger than him sensei, I need to move past it. I can't let his have this type of hold on me anymore, it haunts me everyday, but what always comes up in my dreams is how Itachi felt when he looked at my face before the genjutsu. It was regret, Sensei. I don't care if I kill him, or if he dies somehow else. But, I need to get stronger.

(the little boy had always hid under a shadow that had taunted him and scared him for ages, until three people came and pulled the sheet from above his head. the little boy had never felt this sort of feeling. he was happy?)

 

 

 

 

Kakashi tucked the thin boy into his arms as he wrapped him up into a hug. They both remained comfortable like that for a while.

 

 

 

 

* * *

He sat in his chair somking his pipe while thinking over what Kakashi had brought up in his appoitment with him. It made Hiruzen look back at records he hadn't reviewed in years. It had seemed that the failed students during the time that ROOT had legally existed went to ROOT. Now, the symptoms of the same thing were happing during peacetime. He sent a missive to the anbu commander, head teacher, hospital head, and T&I head. Since, he figured he would need everyone he trusted to be part of this operation, he needed to out the man who had been watching over Konoha, long past his due.

 

 

 

 

 

(the little boy who had looked up to his sensei for everything was confused now, how could have his friend let his sensei's teachings been twisted this far? that little felt betrayed now, but he hadn't discovered to what extent of damage danzo had caused. because in everyone there's that little part that believes that your friend didn't do it, but for hiruzen, everyone around him had died and he wanted to trust danzo keep his close and save him, but now he couldn't. he would have to condemn danzo to death. if it were only that easy......)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so tobirama uses sarutobi because the masses will freak out if he's alive. also this story is a little bit misleading so i'll fix the title and summary because honestly i'm opening up a whole can of worms
> 
> update - 2/2/19  
> i'll be um not updating for a little bit just because the next chapter i planned out is apparently going to take a loooooong time, sorry


	9. now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hahahahaha i thought really that i would update frequently  
> wow.  
> anyways here a bunch a words i hope you'll like  
> not the chunnin exams yet  
> but we'll see about it next chapter or the one after  
> disclaimer, naruto not mine, but plot is  
> also pls comment

She was tiny nothing really special, in her own eyes, but she accepted the proposition of a legend. She thought, well what do I do know. I barely know this guy. I’ll make a meeting with this man sometime later, so I can find out more about him. She nodded to herself before turning her eyes to the white haired man in front of her. 

“Can we meet around two days from now after team training?”

“Of course, Sakura. However, I want to be clear about what I will be teaching you at first because you may not like it.”

“?”

“We’ll be doing conditioning and basic strength training so that your chakra can augment something that is already there and it will take less chakra because currently while your unconscious understanding is amazing, your chakra is trying to make up for something that is not there. When we build up those reserves, I be able to teach you more about chakra theory and maybe pass down a couple of things that I have made down to you.”

She stood a little still. The way this man talking was like she was becoming an apprentice to this man. An apprentice. She was nothing before she had been teamed up with Sasuke and Naruto and only then she only had worth because she was on a team with them. But now she had her own worth which was really and she really didn’t want to deal with that right now. She couldn’t have any worth yet because well she was pathetic right? Sakura resolved to think about this later and she quickly excused herself from her, now, sensei.

He looked at the little kunoichi who rushed off from the training ground. She had a frightening amount of potential. And she didn’t know it. He didn’t know exactly how to fix that, but he knew as his mother became better and as how Touka became better, but it was only because they started. He was helping her do that. Tobirama also shuddered at what she might become and deliberately decided that he would not think about that.

After meeting with her new sensei now, Sakura felt a little bit better on how she would be getting stronger, but she made sure to stop by the academy at the end of the day before she went home. It seemed a little too much of a coincidence, and while it couldn’ve happened she didn’t want to get scammed.   
Iruka was seeing the last of his students out the door when his favorite pink haired kunoichi walked in through the door.

“Sakura-chan?” said Iruka almost disbelievingly because almost none of his old students visited him anymore. (excluding Naruto of course)

“Yes, Iruka-sensei, it’s me.” Sakura said with a smile for her old sensei. 

“How are doing, I haven’t seen you for a couple of weeks now?”

“Yeah, yeah I’ve been busy. Actually sensei, I was training in the training ground off Konoha grounds it’s a little far out, and there was this man who was interested in training me, but I wanted to check it up with you since you probably know more about this man if he’s actually some sort of shinobi and not a scam.”

“Yeah, of course Sakura-chan. What was this man’s name?”

“His name was Tobirama Sarutobi.”

“Oh.” Iruka’s eyes widened the slightest bit, but he still didn’t allow Sakura to get the slightest idea into what he was thinking. He was shocked the second hokage wanted to train someone and a kunoichi at that. The second’s hatred of kunoichi except for the legendary Touka Senju was only (ha ha) second to his prowess in the ninja arts. Iruka made sure to push this aside to reassure Sakura.

“Yes. I know of Sarutobi-san. He is a very good shinobi. Just make sure to ask him for more advanced skills, like I know you are very knowledgeable in chakra theory right?”

“its sooooo interesting sensei, I got back from my last mission and got a book on how chakra can be applied to the body.”

“Those are the things you might want to do with your sensei, because he’s a little bit of those prodigy types kinda like your current sensei now, so you might want to only practice things where you’ve advance above the basics. I can teach you the basics on almost any subject, but make sure to go to Sarutobi-sensei afterwards alright?”

“Is it really hard for prodigy types to treat us the same way?”

“Now, Sakura-chan you’re treating them like they’re a different species. Let’s use your sensei for an example. He didn’t train you right?”

“Hai”

“That’s because his sensei didn’t teach Kakashi anything. He only learned by starting something and then he asked his sensei when he had questions about a technique but it was basically merely supervision and that’s how Kakashi is trying to teach you, but since you guys aren’t him and think differently this probably didn’t occur to you.”

Sakura rubbed the back of her head. Now that she thought about it, that was correct, but the thing was at least in her case was that Kakashi at least before the wave mission he didn’t really care about her question so he wouldn’t answer in much detail which was so dumb and she hated. But, he was getting better now. After seeing how he treated Sasuke today, and apologized to them, she hoped it was going to be better. He didn’t have her trust yet though, that was hard earned and he would have to get it back if he wanted to be as close to her for her to even consider going to him before Iruka-sensei.  
“Ah, well thanks Iruka-sensei I’ll keep that in mind. Also, sensei one last thing. Would you be able to teach me the basics of fuinjutsu because the thing is is that I am mainly a paper ninja and I do really well with learning by writing, and as I was looking through the wartime curriculum it was written as something to ask your senseis about, so I wanted to ask you about it.”

“I do know fuinjutsu, and actually am a better bet to ask than even Kakashi-sensei just because I’m a little better at teaching the basics, so yes Sakura-chan I can teach you. How about tomorrow morning, bring some ink and paper.”

“Yes sensei!”

The next morning, Sakura kept up to her exercises and continued to do laps around the village or at the least tried until the sun rose. After that she ate a second breakfast to replenish the calories she had lost, then she headed out to meet Iruka-sensei with her wonderful black backpack.   
She went down to the academy. It was a little weird entering a place supposed to be filled with little children without the children. It gave almost an eery feeling. 

“Sakura-chan!”

“Iruka-sensei, I have some brushes and some paper, but I’m not sure if I have the exact same type of brushes you want me to use.”

“Don’t worry about it, come inside and then we can see what you have.”

They walked inside past the classroom and into Iruka’s office. It was one of the coziest and homiest places Sakura had ever been. The walls were decorated with children’s paintings and photos as well as little mud statues of various people. Pinned up in front of his desk were the various accomplishments of his students, and around his desk were small chairs for the kids to sit. Iruka sat down at his desk and pulled some paper, and ink of his own. He pulled out a little folding table to put on the ground, and sat down and called Sakura to sit down with him. 

“Okay. Sakura-chan, so I’ll tell you the history of fuinjutsu to start because most of the basics comes from that history and without it you won’t be able to fully understand why some symbols work the way they do, because they don’t represent the same meaning as they do it Konoha.”

Iruka started writing something down with his brushes, fluidly and elegantly. Sakura was almost entranced because it was mesmerizing to watch, then Iruka started talking.

“This is the spiral that is on the back of all the flack jackets that chunin and jounin where. They are put there to represent the fallen village of Uzushio that we failed. They were overthrown in the second shinobi war by kiri and kumo. The island to this day will not allow any Konoha shinobi to enter the premises as we had betrayed her and her people. The thing is with the fall of Uzu is that we were sabotaged as well which lead to Uzu having almost next to none survivors. This was genocide. It was accepted after a while that we were in the wrong, but people don’t want to remember their mistakes. So, we don’t teach it in school and almost no one remembers red haired shinobi running around our village with their cheerful smiles and mischievous eyes.”

He sighed. 

“I only know this much because of the fact that my mother was one of the only few that escaped the fall. She was never the same, but the only thing that made her live past it is because she was able to pass her knowledge down to me. I am doing the same to you because Sakura-chan I have been looking for a very long time for someone to pass this knowledge down to. Someone who can use it well. This is very dangerous to know because as soon as someone else knows that you know it, then it will put a target on you back, so guard you home and you mind first. Do you understand Sakura-chan?”

Iruka-sensei stared into her eyes almost trying to discern if she was going to do something bad with it. She hadn’t known that this knowledge carried so much weight, and it had this much history. But, she couldn’t back down. Iruka-sensei had allowed her to learn and she couldn’t let his down. Sakura wouldn’t fall back just because it was dangerous. 

“I understand Sensei.”

Her eyes lit up. And for the next two hours as Iruka sensei continued to tell her about the stories associated with new symbols, that fire only got stronger, but this time it was because Sakura had found a new obsession that allowed her to use her brain. 

After it became lunch, Sakura stepped out and said goodbye to her sensei making plans to see each other in the morning again. She headed out to a dango shop because she figured since she was exercising so much it couldn’t hurt right? Her little candly floss covered head bounded off towards the one shop where Anko Mitarashi was at as well. Konoha sensed this fated meeting and honestly, Konoha was laughing his ass off. 

Sakura entered the dango shop, and immediately spotted the woman she wanted to be for the rest of her life. There was this woman with purple hair, it was amazing and she was throwing these senbon with amazing accuracy and she was gorgeous and she had a killer body. Honestly she couldn’t be more perfect. As Sakura took the dango she bought she plopped down right in front of the beautiful badass woman and asked

“Hello Kunoichi-sama, may I ask what is your name?”

The little girl in front of her had stars in her eyes, weirdly twinkling as Anko threw another senbon near to her face. The girl in front of her didn’t even flinch just waited on an answer. 

“Anko Mitarashi. What’s it to you brat?”

Sakura opened her mouth and closed it again. She couldn’t dare to mess up in front of her new idol. She was gorgeous what would she do it she spouted some word vomit about wa-

“Can you train me to be like you?”

She blushed bright red. Almost like a strawberry, Anko mused as she took in the genin in front of her. How would that little thing survive as being a shinobi, she didn’t know. Then, she remembered the pink haired genin being the only one who was practically unscathed after the forest of death. The only one in a decade to be able to throw a YAMANAKA out of her mind. 

“Tell you what Pinky, you seem interesting. I can’t train you because I don’t care that much, but if you come anytime to T&I and message them to meet me here, I’ll come and give you advice or something.”

Anko really didn’t understand what she had just done. Sakura just felt happy. Konoha trembled. Kakashi just felt really cold with the sheer amount of shivering he was doing.

And when Sakura showed up to the exams where a huge ass fucking trench coat, no one said anything. They might’ve stared but said nothing.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kakashi was in the hospital sitting beside Sasuke waiting for the boy to wake up. He remembered his last visit here where the boy actually decided that he wanted to heal. It was a magnificent difference compared to his last pysch eval and honestly even if Sasuke was depressed, the Yamanaka psychiatrists would finally be able to help him now because he wanted to heal. 

The onyx haired boy lying on the bed cracked one eye open before scrunching it closed. 

“Sensei. It’s too bright.”

He chuckled

“Welcome to the life of being injured if you become the best or learn medical jutsu, you won’t almost ever have to come here again.”

Sasuke turned this over in his head taking the joking remark seriously.

“medical jutsu?”

“Yes iryo-ninjutsu. It’s one of the most difficult skills to ever learn because of the fact that you will need really stable and fine chakra control in order to be a good medic nin

His eyes glinted, but Kakashi didn’t see it and it would come back to bite him.

After a while, Kakashi left when the nurse wanted to check on their patient. She held up a green hand to make sure everything was going well with Sasuke’s treatment. As soon as a green glow enveloped her head, Sasuke activated his sharingan and put a genjutsu over his eyes. He realized he couldn’t fully see all of the chakra pattern going on in the jutsu, and that was unacceptable. How was he an Uchiha if he couldn’t see a jutsu from his sharingan, and then he realized what Kakashi-sensei had said earlier. 

He needed better chakra control even more fine and well able more stability within himself in order to understand this jutsu. 

For one moment he wondered would it really be worth, should he really learn this. It wouldn’t kill Itachi. Then, he yelled at himself. Why did everything he had to learn have to be in order to kill itachi. It doesn’t have to be. 

Sasuke decided to learn this jutsu and become a med nin because he’d be able to prove to himself that he would be more powerful than itachi because honestly he didn’t need to defeat itachi, that man could go fuck himself. Sasuke needed to live his own life, and that was the best revenge he could think of. 

Over the next couple of days, Sasuke practiced all the types of chakra control he could of which admittedly was only three, so when Sakura came over to visit him, almost starved without anyone visiting him, he tried as calmly as he could and cooly as he could to ask Sakura as many question as she could answer.  
“Do you know any control exercises?”

“Like anger management?”

Sasuke frowned, here he was actually asking someone else for help, and she was making fun of him. He pouted to the side.

Sakura sat on her seat at the side of the hospital bed, and she was honestly confused, maybe he had meant chakra? But, why would Sasuke need to learn about chakra control, he had enough for ninjutsu?

“No.”

“Then what do you mean Sasuke?”

“Chakra.”

Sakura was very confused, Sasuke had never really shown any interest in control, but who was she to deny him. Luckily, she was carrying her notes with the chakra control exercise. She handed the papers to him. 

“Here, they are pretty advanced towards the end, but you don’t need them unless you become a medic.”

“Hn.”

He grunted his typical grunt and flipped to the end of the book, and looked at it, and looked back at her with shock on his face. 

“Yeah, it me about two weeks to get it. But, I mean, I can’t do it for long. I just need to practice more. Anyways, I need to tell you about all the gossip that’s going on. So, basically, I’m training with Tobirama-sensei right? And like no one –“

Sakura continued talking and Sasuke sort of drowned her out choosing to focus on the notes in front of him but continued to nod and say the appropriate hns. After about five visits, Sasuke had started warming up to his teammates. He didn’t consider them friends yet, but at this rate he wondered if they would ever leave him. He hoped they wouldn’t. 

The only thing they both wondered about was what Naruto was doing because they did visit him, and he visited them, but Naruto didn’t really tell them anything about himself anymore, but as they could see he was getting stronger, so they didn’t worry. 

Sasuke continued to sneak in some control exercises while the nurses weren’t in his room because they caught him once, and he shivered just thinking about it, but they force fed him the awful cafeteria food that they normally didn’t give him. He continued this process for two weeks, his chakra control up to the point where he could fine tune his chakra frequency with other peoples. Sasuke also felt better. Over the last couple of weeks, he had made it past frantically pulling his hair out and panic attacks to being able to see his own face in the mirror with the sharingan on and not see his brother. His brother was a box that he put to the side. Sasuke was getting better and he didn’t need to deal with that box. It was something for later and after he was happy, he could figure out his feelings. 

A nurse walked in and started checking his vitals, Sasuke used his sharingan one more time to see the chakra flow of the jutsu, so that he could perform it. Then, he sat quietly till the nurse left and enveloped his hand in chakra. It was a warm feeling but also made him very tired. It took a dense amount of chakra in order to put chakra in you hand and keep it circulating there. The green glow lit up his hand, but after a while he had to release the jutsu because he started feeling dizzy. 

His eyes narrowed and his determination renewed 

He kept going like for the weeks until he had been growing distant from his teammates. They kept coming to visit from time to time, disturbing him, and all around causing him to become irritated because he needed to do something to be useful.

Sasuke broke on the weekend before the exams. Sakura came in to visit him noticing he had been growing distant, getting irritated at every little thing they had been doing, not looking at them in the eye when telling them to leave, so she decided to surprise him. 

She came up upon a bloody gash with a pale arm and a boy struggling to produce a light green glow from his hands. She screamed and nurses came running into the room. His eyes glowed with anger and she didn’t really care. 

Hours later, she sat in the room beside him, no matter what he was yelling at her and by consequence, Naruto sitting beside her, they both wouldn’t leave. They didn’t until Sasuke calmed down to sobbing. 

“I know. Okay, I know that this isn’t the way to this.”

“But?” Sakura asked

“It’s the fastest way to do this, no one has been able to progress this fast.”

“Sasuke” Naruto pleaded

Sasuke held up his hand. The two of them let Sasuke continue

“But I’ll stop. You’ve been worried, and I don’t want to worry you, so I’ll stop. I wanted to be useful, but I know I am and you’ll care for me even if I’m not”

He looked at them hesitantly.

Sakura looked at Naruto before answering

“You’ve got another thing coming to you if you think either of us would abandon you!”

“Teme, you can be dumb but this is the dumbest! Don’t you ever think we’d leave you!”

Chuckiling softly, Sasuke turned aside and sat quietly watching his windowsill.

As they were leaving, that dark hair didn’t move, but he whispered a soft but firm, “Thank you.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

His blonde hair was rustling as a gust of wind passed by. His blue eyes looking up into the big expanses of a building he had never stepped foot into, but had always gotten raving reviews from sakura about. The ominous scary unforgettable library? 

The doors were humongous as Naruto stepped inside. He expected people to glare at him as he entered, but he was surprised to see how everyone just went on with what they were doing basically what people in a library would be doing. Studying and Reading. Naruto kinda felt stupid expecting something else, but considering he had been yelled at when entering almost anything he felt a little justified in his feelings. 

After taking another couple of steps into the building, he walked more confidently to the shelves to explore what they had to offer and what he wanted to learn. 

“Genjutsu? Huh, why not?” 

Naruto tossed scrolls from along the shelves, from genjutsu to bukijutsu all into his bag. Along with a dictionary of course, considering he didn’t know almost anything in regard to anything, he figured a dictionary would be helpful, and it didn’t hurt that it came heavily recommended from Sakura as well. 

Checking out all the scrolls he received from the library, he returned home. After a very productive afternoon, he decided that he should probably practice his sneaky pranking skills. He hadn’t pranked in ages, and it felt so dull when he wasn’t planning a huge master plan. Though he promised Iruka-sensei that he wouldn’t prank any civilians, so he had to think of a new group of targets. Since, it wasn’t civilians, it had to be ninjas right? So, Naruto decided that night, as he was writing up about a hundred and ten different pranks, he would prank the elitest of the elite, the anbu. 

Jackal, who was watching all of this unfold, decided to ignore the shivers running down his spine because a child who has barely just graduated the academy could’ve do shit, right????????

Right. 

The next morning, all of the agents, all of them come running out of the whatever hole they were hiding in with their masks turned neon orange. 

Naruto sat up on his apartment’s roof just to watch the chaos unfold. As the anbu were running around like chickens, he thought to himself, “This is just the beginning, I can’t wait to see their reactions to the rest of them, dattebayo!”

And for the next week, when he wasn’t meeting Sakura to train, talking and fighting Teme in the hospital, he was in his room planning out pranks to pull on the Anbu, or pulling pranks on the anbu. His pranks kept getting progressively better, as he had learned ridiculous number of while very weak but varied genjutsu that he used very creatively within his pranks. With this genjutsu knowledge, Naruto made sure none of those Anbu could catch him. He hid all of his traces, and while he had that chakra residue, he made sure that he left that everywhere, so that the anbu would never be able to know it was him. 

Naruto didn’t get punished. But, following one very successful prank ending up with an Anbu having their armor printed with paisley on it, Jackal came out and snatched him by the collar and dragged him to a training ground. 

He yelled out, “Help! Help, I’m being abducted dattebayo! Heeeelp!”.

“No one can hear you from up here.”

Naruto just frowned and turned his head aside, seeing as how the man hadn’t harmed him yet, he figured that he would be alright. But he wondered, “Why had the man taken me in the first place?”.

After they got to the training ground, Jackal dropped Naruto on the ground, and stood over him.

Naruto sat up, and rubbed his neck before looking up at Jackal and yelling, “What do you want!”

“Why do you keep torturing us?”

Jackal seemed genuinely confused. At least to Naruto.

“What’s it to you? Are you the boss or something?”

Jackal considered the child before answering, “No, but I am annoyed”

“I’m not allowed to prank civilians, according to Iruka-sensei, anyways, so I guess someone wanted to theoretically I guess prank the elite of the elite, the Anbu. And since they, whoever they are, haven’t gotten caught yet, so they must be pretty good!”

Naruto had a big grin on his face. Jackal was floored that a child like this, one that could’nt control his emotions, could barely lie, and most definitely did not understand the concept of sublety, was able to confidently pull pranks on the elite in the village and get away with them without any evidence pointing towards himself. Everyone knew it was Naruto, but no one ever knew how?, when?, or even why?.

Jackal saw a lot of potential in this kid. This scrawny brat with gigantic blue eyes, could probably destroy the world one day if he put his mind and his pranks to it. 

Well that was something to think about later. 

While Jackal was thinking about all this, Naruto has set up a little surprise, and when Jackal started to take a step towards him, he felt a little something on the bottom of his toe. He looked down. 

Well,

There’s an explosion tag there. 

Hm

Jackal looked towards that wide grin on the boy’s face and flipped the fuck away from that wide grin throwing the tag away and crouches hiding behind a rock. Naruto just cackled because he didn’t even know how to make a tag like that, just genjutsu. Jackal realized that the tag was just genjutsu, and he deadpanned looking at the boy. 

Jackal was annoyed.

Like heavily annoyed.

But, he had just been pranked by a teenager who was only a gennin. 

Jackal

An Anbu

He wanted to be a part of this boy of his story because he knew that Naruto was going to be something great.

So, during those weeks where team 7 stopped taking mission, so that they could train, and no one really wanted to take a mission without Sasuke, Naruto became smarter. He studied genjutsu. He learned how to hurt people. He learned the depth of what he was learning. But, he kept learning it because he needed to know how to protect his precious people. And, he never stopped pranking.

The Anbu were so scared every single day of those weeks.   
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
When they all walked into the academy on the day of the chunnin exams, all of them stood straight with their chins up. 

Stood straight over the shadows beneath them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pls comment  
> would love responses.  
> i eat them  
> they give me a lot of life  
> also probably some dark konoha stuff next chapter hopefully


End file.
